Caring for your eyes is an essential. Finding an eye doctor that you trust and feel comfortable with can make a big difference to your eye health. For those in the Old Greenwich area, Greenwich Eye Care can help you to care for your eyes from top to bottom.
What is Orthokeratology?
Our eyes are delicate, but they are also resilient. When the eye is not shaped correctly, it can change the way that you see and can create a need for glasses and contact lenses. Orthokeratology, or Ortho-K, is a nonsurgical method of changing the shape of the eye to improve vision.
Orthokeratology is a method of treatment that helps to reshape the eye with the help of specially made contact lenses that you wear while you are sleeping. These are called therapeutic contact lenses that help to gradually reshape the eye to improve your vision overall.
An easy way to understand Ortho-K is to think about them as retainers for the eye. Just like you get retainers for your teeth after braces to maintain the position of the teeth, the orthokeratology lenses are help maintain the new shape of your cornea.
How Does Orthokeratology Work?
The process begins with your initial consultation. Your optometrist will first work to evaluate the overall health of your eye to see if ortho-k is a good fit for you. After that a topographical map of your eye will be made so that the lenses you will be wearing can be designed.
There are a few factors that might affect how well ortho-k works for you and if you are even eligible or not. If your eyes are not healthy, you may not be eligible for orthokeratology. For those that have healthy eyes, the prescription that you start with, how rigid your cornea is, the tear quality and quantity in your eyes, and even what you are hoping to achieve will all affect your orthokeratology treatment plan.
As with braces, the Ortho-k are going to help reshape your eye so that you do not have to wear contact lenses and glasses to correct your vision during the day. Depending on your eyes, you can get results very quickly. For children that have very misshapen eyes, Ortho-k can be a great pediatric contact lens option to help reshape their eyes and correct vision early on.
For those in the Old Greenwich area, Greenwich Eye Care can help you find out if you are able to have an orthokeratology treatment or if your eyes are not healthy enough. We can help you care for your eyes from a young age all the way into adulthood. Contact us today!